DON'T PANIC

DON'T PANIC (always upper-case) is a phrase written on the cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The novel explains that this was partly because the device "looked insanely complicated" to operate, not unlike our Blog and partly to keep intergalactic travellers from panicking.
It is said that despite its many glaring (and occasionally fatal) inaccuracies, just like our Blog, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy itself has outsold the Encyclopedia Galactica because it is slightly cheaper, and because it has the words 'DON'T PANIC' in large, friendly letters on the cover.

Arthur C. Clarke said Douglas Adams' use of 'DON'T PANIC' was perhaps the best advice that could be given to humanity.

Are YOU Involved or Institutionalized?

Long live the Evolution. Are YOU Involved or Institutionalized? Get informed for free at 

www.stgeorgewest.blogspot.co.uk

BECAUSE THE REAL NEWS IS ACTUALLY

HOT SHIT!!!

The Israelis are butchering the Palestinians, EVERY DAY!

Our own MP has stood by for years while ‘they’ have been and continue to actively POISON OUR WATER SUPPLY!

OUR GOVERNMENT DOESN’T RUN THINGS GOLDMAN SACHS DOES!

MISANDRY runs rampant across the UK.

A UK Socialist Government Did BAIL OUT THE BANKSTERS!

The banksters did just rob money straight out of European and ex pat British people’s bank accounts.

Our government did just send our troops to help murder more than 1,000,000 ‘Sand Niggers’ and destroy Iraq, Libya and now Syria.

At our expense, our government continues to support hundreds of unwanted colonial army bases around the world

Nestlé did just apply for a patent on sorrel

Our fiat (paper) money is a Ponzi scheme.

ST GEORGE HISTORY

The past pages of this blog are now only for reference. Thanks for looking. Current local events are covered at: http://stgeorgepark.blogspot.com/
Best wishes all

Angelo, editor.

Flower Beds Sunday

Green fingers anyone? Come lend a hand...

The Friends of St George Park group are planning a session to prepare the flower beds on Sunday 8th Feb from 10pm-2pm, and would be pleased for anyone who is interested to come and lend a hand.

You will need to bring tools and wear appropriate clothing especially footwear, and you can come for as long as you want, hope to see some of you there.

St George West By-Election

St George West By-Election
First, may I convey my condolences to Mr Deasy's family and friends on behalf of myself and my team.

For our supporters in response to their clear interest in this matter, yes, of course I am willing to stand again for St George.

Since the election last May, I have continued to campaign on behalf of the residents on issues such as the park, crime and local schools. It would be a privilege to be able to continue to do so.

THIS WEEK

Check out the friends of St George Park website and get involved.

THE LATEST W.A.S.P.

&

THE FORGETTABLE ESTATE: There is good and bad news... Click on the thumbnail photos to enlarge and read the residents own newsletter.

PEOPLE POWER WORKS:"The Forgotten Estate"

STAND UP SPEAK UP: Ask questions directly to MP's

St George West MATTERS
Click on the pictures to enlarge

Residents Make a Stand Against Crime
After a perceived rise in crime and attempted crime, residents in St Georges Park have come together for mutual support.

From the Archive:
Local Successes & Issues
The New Rubbish Regime & The Party Post

EYES RIGHT! Our regular column from some of my team
who are busy watching council meetings
and reporting back to you, on this, OUR community website.

Happy New Year...

W.A.S.P.

the latest edition of W.A.S.P.

Click on the pictures to enlarge!

EYES RIGHT!

By Stella Hender: Update 11th of September: Tonight's full council meeting is the first one ever to be web cast (we will have a link asap) and guess what, some lazy bleeping councilors of tried to CANCEL the meeting! The Lib Dem whip Mark Baily tried to pressurise councilors and officers to abandon the meeting on the grounds that there was not enough business on the agenda after the Summer break.

For a change, Stephen McNamara the town clerk stepped in as a champion of local democracy and told them that it was a scheduled council meeting which the public were taking part in and he could not cancel it.

Back bench councilors now receive £11,000.00 per year of our tax payers money (each) and the 10 council meetings are the only ones that they are legally obliged to attend in order to receive that salary. That's £1,100.00 per meeting!!!

Trust the "'Liberal' 'Democrats'" to instigate this action. Earlier this year they already tried to reduce the number of council meetings from 10 to 6! That would be £1833.33 per meeting!

The full council meeting is the only opportunity that the public have (that's you and I folks) to see in action and make representations to, the full council.

Is it a coincidence that the very first meeting scheduled to be web cast is the one the Lib Dems wanted to cancel? They would not wish us to be able to so easily see that their behaviour in the chamber is at best that of naughty school children and at worst, animals in the zoo (though a lot less interesting).

Update additional:
At the first web cast meeting, the Liberal Democrat group on Bristol city council bizarrely, but quite deliberately, made themselves the enemies of Bristol's large student population, and in the process may have lost their MP Stephen Williams' chances of keeping his seat(Bristol West) at the next general election.

Despite having ten councillors in the "Clifton" wards which are the home of many hundreds of students of Bristol University, and 2 in Lockleaze, where students for UWE live, they put a motion to council to support an Early Day Motion in Parliament which specifically calls for the licencing of "student properties" to make them easier to control in the planning process, so that they will not all necessarily be concentrated in these wards.

Not surprisingly, this singling out of students and clearly naming them as being responsible for problems such as noise, anti social behaviour, rubbish, extra cars,etc, was not appreciated by the Student Union, who sent a delegation to the council to forcefully argue their case. They wanted cllrs to omit the part of the motion that mentioned the EDM about students,which was an amendment put forward by the Labour cllrs. (Even though the EDM was being placed before parliament by a Labour MP!)

The Conservative cllrs all voted with the Lib Dems.
The student leader said to "Eyes Right" outside, "If the words 'black' or 'Jewish' were used instead, they would not dare to support it." (the EDM.)

However, the most shocking scenes came when the amendment had been lost and the students left the public gallery. Without exception, the whole "Liberal" "Democrat" group began to gesture, heckle and jeer at them, with shouts of "oh, poor little loves, we'll put your fees up next year" and so on. Such scenes are a disgrace to local democracy and it remains to be seen whether this episode will be screened on the web cast. "Eyes Right" will make a protest if it is censored out!

The Forgotten Estate

I am very pleased that members of my team have helped residents of the re-built pre-fab estate (Whitehall Rd/Plummers Hill) start up their own newsletter called "The W.A.S.P"



(Whitehall Rd & Ave, Alder Drive, Sycamore Close & Plummers Hill) Because this estate has a large number of elderly and disabled residents and no warden.

CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO ENLARGE AND READ THEIR NEWSLETTER.

This newsletter is designed for them to keep in touch with one another and share their problems, give help and advice, organise meetings, days out, and advertise useful local events and services.

Residents are taking it in turns to edit and write the newsletter, which is funded by local donations, and not influenced by the council or any politician. One of the first questions the W.A.S.P. asked was , did anyone who signed the petition for improvements on the estate, which I handed in to the council in June, get an answer? Within a few minutes of delivering the newsletter, a resident handed us a letter from IAN CRAWLEY, Director of Housing, dated August 9th. This was the ONLY letter received by anyone as far as we know.

This letter is promising footpath improvements on Plummers Hill, Alder Drive and Whitehall Rd, as well as one of the entrances on Plummers Hill, when they have received quotes from contractors. (As yet no work has been started.) Well, this is a start, although they have ignored the request for the lanes at Sycamore Close to be looked at, or the other two entrances on Plummers Hill!

Apparently the council are also re-acting promptly to reports of individual blocked drains on the estate, which is good news. By far the most interesting part of the letter is the fact that the works are being organised by an estate manager for Bristol North, Andy Baynton. Mr. Baynton is based at Southmead, so we can only speculate as to why he has been put in charge? Could it have been the total lack of response from the local housing office over the last two years? Whatever the reason, things seem to be moving at last, and I am sure "The W.A.S.P." will continue to buzz around bringing news and advice and chasing the council over the many problems the residents of the re-built pre fabs are experiencing.

I am particularly pleased to see that BOVIS HOMES have agreed to use the newsletter as a way of regularly informing local people of the progress of their new estate, which will be built over the next two years.

Update 17th September 2007:
Following on from the above, we have news of a major success as a direct result of the residents petition which I presented to the council. Sycamore Close is at last having their unsafe path completely repaired and resurfaced with tarmac, after 5 years of complaining.

All the paths in the estate are to be spot repaired with concrete to make them less hazardous. The council has also promised to build proper kerb stones at an entrance to the estate from Plummers Hill to stop mud and stones washing over the path every time it rains.

They are also promising to look into the other issues raised by the petition. Indeed the director of housing Ian Crawley has stated that he will look into the background of the problems faced by residents and take a personal interest.

We hope that these promises will be kept and will be monitoring the progress or otherwise of these long awaited improvements.


Update 25th October 2007:

Success from our petition: Contractors have actually been to cost up and give the council a quote for the works on the lanes.

W.A.S.P. newsletter has commented that the residents hope that the council will look at the quotes and see that it makes more financial sense to completely renovate and not just spot repair these lanes.

The bad news is that Bovis Homes has yet to respond to recent queries regarding the recent closure of the residents vital footpath link through to Howard Avenue.

Last year Bovis Homes promised us that they would keep this access way open for the many elderly and disabled locals who rely on this shortcut to the park and shops. I hope that they are not reneging on this promise made by Alan Cook their technical services director. We are waiting to hear of their reply to W.A.S.P.

More bad news for the council tenants on the estate. The council has recently told individual tenants that council workers will no longer come out to replace their security light bulbs. They say that it is now the tenants responsibility, but no one has had anything in writing about this change in their tenancy agreements.

The security lights are over six feet up the wall and therefore virtually impossible for those who are disabled to change without help. in view of the fact that we are so concerned these days to help the elderly/disabled to live in their own homes and enjoy a secure environment, we think this is disgraceful.

As usual one step forward two steps back for the forgotten estate. As we are constantly reminding them (the council), perhaps we should rename it the forgettable/ignored estate.

Add to this the councils latest wheeze to charge these and 2,500 other similar tenants £3.50 per week for their emergency alarm system. You would be forgiven for thinking that the council would have them all just, shut up and die.

Friends of the Park "Vibe"

Friends of St George Park

Vibe in the park marked a milestone in the history of our park. This time last year, we had a stall for our park survey which had been designed by local residents and park users of all age groups. This year the Friends of St George Park (Started 19th July 2007) had a stall to raise funds and awareness for the future improvements needed (in case there is any confusion 'Friends of St George Park' is not a conservative group, it is completely independent and made up of local residents).

It's not all talk either, local people have given of their time and braved weather to make this happen and for example 'Friends of St George Park' now have a photographic record of all benches in need of repair. Local people are beginning to hold those responsible to account.

I know that those who attended the Vibe on the 9th of September felt that change and improvement were clearly afoot.


We have so many local talents, in fact everything we need to make this happen is on our doorstep and it is happening now. Get involved, click on this text or the St George Park Link to your right for more information.

EYES RIGHT!

I am happy to introduce a new, regular, column from my team and myself who are busy watching council meetings and reporting back to you, on this, OUR website.

Update: 10th of August 2007
LABOUR & LIB DEMS UNITE TO DENY BRISTOLIANS A VOTE ON ROAD- PRICING

At the council meeting on July 17th, a CONSERVATIVE motion re-affirming the councils long-standing opposition to congestion charging was passed.

However an amendment by the Liberal UnDems that Bristol should NOT have a referendum on the issue was added, and passed, with LABOUR support, effectively castrating the motion and making it council policy that we, the tax payers who pay their salaries, cannot vote on this crucial matter.

THE CONSERVATIVE GROUP UNANIMOUSLY VOTED AGAINST THIS UNDEMOCRATIC AMENDMENT.

Comment: However, in a free society, it is hard to see how a vote like this could prevent us having a say - remember that nearly 2M people voted against congestion charging on a govt website, a result that might persuade new PM Gordon Brown to come out against it to try and win an early election! It would be ironic if it turns out that our local Labour Cllrs here in St. George have voted locally in the opposite way to their new Prime Minister!

You can still sign the petition for a referendum on road charging on this blog, and on Angelo's new leaflet, ST GEORGE WEST MATTERS (also shown on the blog so you can print off a paper copy as well.)

Original Post:
Labour running Bristol with Tory support - lower council tax promised
The new administration of Bcc, Labour supported by the Conservatives, has survived its first few weeks. Both parties are denying it is a formal coalition , instead an arrangement purely for the better government of Bristol. An early success is the last council meeting passing a motion to use the spare cash in the council tax collection account to keep down next years council tax. Proposed by the Conservatives and seconded by Labour, the Liberal Democrats, now all relegated to the 'back benches' unanimously voted against.

Of great interest to St. George West, the new Transport Boss is MARK BRADSHAW. He inherits the implementing of the Bus Route from the inept Dennis Brown. (Good riddance.) We hope Mark will answer our recent questions (see comments section below for Angelo's Questions to Mark Bradshaw) and continue the very welcome scrapping of the bus lanes (the contraflow lane out of old market - SCRAPPED!) and re -think parking restrictions and no- turning orders along the route. We are told that the TRO for the phase 2 work will be published soon and intend to study it and publish it on the website. The recent news that residents of Barton Hill are STILL unhappy with the plans for the Ducie Road junction is proof - if it were needed - that the so-called consultation was an expensive shambles.

Mark also has inherited Waste Management from "King Rat" Lib Dem Gary Hopkins. Waste management , including the dreaded 2-week collections, is being re-visited by the new administration, using a "citizens jury." These are chosen at random from the electoral roll. But anyone can submit ideas to them. Members of my team are putting forward proposals already and you can read them on the website.

The Standards Committee: this is your 'watchdog' that is supposed to ensure councillors and anyone else voting on council committees (including co-optees) upholds high standards in public life. My team heard at a recent meeting of this committee that there are an average 120 complaints a year against Bcc Cllrs, of which 36 are found serious enough to investigate. Who are they? what are the complaints about ? what are the results? As usual, this has been a mystery to the public. We hope that the recent well publicised complaint against Cllr Holland is a precedent and that the public will be better informed in future.

We are watching the watchdog! Our reports from the Standards Committee will be posted on the website.